Supreme Court Seeks Bar Council Of India's Response On Plea Challenging Rule Allowing Extension Of State Bar Councils' Tenure

The Supreme Court on July 30 asked the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Councils to file an affidavit within 3 weeks in a writ petition seeking to quash Rule 32 of the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015, which empowers Bar Council of India ("BCI") to extend the term of State Bar Council members beyond the statutory limits prescribed under the Advocates Act 1961. Notice on this petition was issued in 2023.

As per Section 8 of the Advocates Act, the statutory period for an elected member of the State Bar Council is five years. It provides that where the State Bar Council fails to provide for the election of its members before the expiry of the term, the BCI can extend the term for six months.   

As per Rule 32, in its original form, if the term of a State Bar Council expires due to the delay in the verification of the advocates, the Bar Council of India has the power to constitute an ad-hoc committee comprising the members of the State Bar Council to ensure the smooth functioning of the Bar Council. However, this Rule was amended in 2023, allowing the Bar Council of India to extend the period of elected members/office bearers of State Bar Councils beyond the statutory periods prescribed in the Act. The extension is permissible for a period of 18 months. 

Rule 32 now reads as follows :

"In case the term of elected members of any state Bar Council is likely to expire/expires due to delay in the process of identification of non-practicing advocates or verification of their certificates or delay in the preparation in the electoral roll for the election to the state Bar Councils due to the aforementioned reasons, the Bar Council of India may allow the elected members/and the office-bearers of the State Bar Council(s) to continue to function beyond their extended tenure under Section 8 of the Advocates' Act, 1961 in order to complete the process of verification and in order to ensure that no non-practicing Advocate becomes a voter or a member of any state Bar Council. The State Bar Council(s) shall be required to complete the process of verification within a period of 18 months from the date of extension of their tenure by the Bar Council of India and shall complete the process of election within a period of 6 months therefrom.

In case, of failure to complete the process of verification and the election within the said extended period as prescribed under this Rule, the Bar Council of India may dissolve the State Bar Council and shall proceed to constitute the Special Committee as provided under Section 8A of the Advocates Act, 1961."

A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi will take up the matter for final hearing on September 24. The Court also noted in its order that challenge to this Rule is pending in other petitions as well. 

A similar petition is pending before bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta challenging an order of the Rajasthan High Court. This was tagged with another petition titled Bar Council of India Vs. Shyam Bihari & Ors Transfer Petition (Civil) No.2930/2024.

Case Details: M. VARADHAN v UNION OF INDIA & ANR.|Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1319/2023

Click Here To Read Order

Appearances: For Petitioner(s) :Mrs. Madhavi Divan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Aditya Kumar Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Vel Murugan, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Pandey, Adv. Mr. Aditya Anand Singh, Adv. Mr. Anurag Yadav, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Singh Chauhan, AOR

 For Respondent(s) :Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR Ms. Anjul Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Shreya Garg, Adv.

Mr. Byrapaneni Suyodhan, Adv. Ms. Tatini Basu, AOR Ms. Obulapuram Keerthi, Adv. Mr. Kumar Shashank, Adv.

Mrs. Sumita Ray, AOR Ms. Disha Ray, Adv. Mr. Kunal Narwal, Adv. Ms. Vanshika Singh, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kumar, Adv.

Ms. Manisha Ambwani, AOR

Mr. Siddhartha Sinha, AOR Mr. D. Bharat Kumar, Adv. Mr. M. Chandrakanth Reddy, Adv.